Aston Villa have had a £12m offer accepted by Fulham for their star striker Ross McCormack as they look to bolster their squad in a bid to gain immediate promotion to the top tier of English football. The 29-year old striker is free to discuss personal terms with Villa after the club announced the development on their official website.
“The club can confirm that a bid has been accepted from Aston Villa for Ross McCormack. Further details will be announced in due course.”
Aston Villa had been woeful throughout last season which culminated in their relegation for the first time since Premier League’s inception in 1992-93 as we know it. The team lacked a leader throughout and failed to inspire confidence in the fans who could see the writing on the wall halfway through the season. With an alarming loss in momentum, the way they were relegated set the alarm bells ringing amongst the club faithful who feared that a successive relegation could well be on the cards.
While it has been a crushing blow understandably, the club had to pick itself up and try to liveup too the goodwill the club has built in previous decades. One of the major change they went through was when the Dr. Tony Xia, a Chinese businessman took over the club from its previous owner American Randy Lerner who had been much criticised lately.
Roberto Di Matteo was installed as the new manager and was given the unenviable task of resurrecting the fast sinking Villa ship. Di Matteo has already brought goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, defender Tommy Elphick and midfielder Aaron Tshibola as he plans to overhaul his squad to an extent and launch a promotion bid. And according to the latest reports he is close to adding the Championship goal-machine next.
McCormack started his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers in 2003, going on loan to League One side Doncaster Rovers in January 2006. At the end of the season, he was released by Rangers and joined fellow SPL side Motherwell. In 2008 McCormack joined Championship side Cardiff City upon the expiry of his contract. In 2010 he moved to Championship rivals Leeds United for a fee of around £350,000. McCormack became team captain of Leeds, but moved to Fulham in July 2014 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £11 million.
The Championship veteran will bring undoubted pedigree and will be a vital addition to the Villa side. He has fought and won numerous battles in the second tier and will be determined to help Villa achieve promotion and realise his dream of playing in the Premier League aswell. His 116 goals and 56 assists in 306 games in the Championship bear testament to the sure-shot goals he will provide the maligned club.
Aston Villa will look to get the deal completed quickly so that the player is able to join up with the team with the season almost upon us.
